The win improved Granite City to 3-1 overall on the season and 1-1 in the Southwestern Conference. The loss dropped Edwardsville to 1-3 and 0-2 on the conference slate.

"He's a good player and they did a good job," said EHS head coach Matt Martin. "They got out on the perimeter with the run and the pass and did a good job."

Warrior head coach Carl Luehman credited the offensive line for much of the success of his talented junior runner on Friday.

"He's a big play maker for us," said Luehman of Sloan. "But we're pretty proud of our offensive line and our defense. Coming into this game we knew we were going to play against a good Edwardsville team. They moved the ball well and we just told the kids, ‘We need to play four quarters. We haven't played four quarters yet.' I think this is the first time we've played four quarters and we got good results from it."

It was a play by Sloan as time expired in the third quarter that broke the backs of the Tigers.

After EHS was unable to convert on a fourth and goal when quarterback Arik Bueltmann's throw to Garrett Jensen deflected off his fingertips in the back of the end zone, GCHS got the ball on its own five yard line.

The Tiger defense stopped Sloan for a two-yard loss on first down, but on second down he bounced outside and up the sideline 98 yards for the score. The extra point by Warrior kicker Brian Nemsky made it 35-14 Granite City with a quarter to go.

Martin had heeded the big play ability of Sloan earlier in the week, saying how important it was to "gang tackle" him. He reiterated that on Friday.

Prior to the TD run, EHS had tackled Sloan for three consecutive negative yardage plays, but it was the fourth carry that was the killer.

"That's football," said Martin. "You can have three great plays, tackles for losses, but you've got to do it four or it's a touchdown. It's about doing the right things all the time."

Luehman again credited his offensive line and his defense for setting the stage for Sloan.

"Our defense has done a real good job inside the red zone stopping teams," said Luehman.

"Our O-line, they kept working too and we made some adjustments at half time and the kids fought through some adversity down there at the goal line."

Granite City signal caller Jake Daily had a nice night too.

The junior quarterback was 12 of 14 for 168 yards and three TDs. His first incompletion came with just over a minute remaining in the first half, but he hit Marcus Mason on a 27-yard TD strike on the next play at 1:06 in the second quarter which broke a 14-14 tie.

"He's coming around," said Luehman. "He's starting to throw the ball and get more comfortable back there and we've got to throw the ball to play with the upper echelon teams and we've got O'Fallon coming in next week."

The Tigers did have an early lead in the contest. Daily had connected with Perry Grimes on one of their two TD hookups on the night at 8:59 in the first quarter, but Nemsky botched the extra point to keep it at 6-0.

The Tigers proceeded to march down field and at 6:08 tailback Cameron James bounced outside and down the sideline for a 29-yard TD run. Brandon Baker's kick gave EHS a 7-6 advantage.

"Right at the beginning of the game we thought, ‘Uh oh, this is going to be a shoot out here,'" said Luehman.

Sloan put the Warriors back on top at 9:59 in the second quarter pushing his way in from two yards out. He followed it up by darting back in on the two-point conversion to make it 14-7 GCHS.

The Tigers responded again on their next possession though. Bueltmann, who got the start Friday at quarterback, found Jensen on a 40-yard strike for a score. Baker's extra point knotted it at 14-14, before the Warriors would leap frog back in front right before the break, this time for good.

"They were what I thought they'd be," Martin said of the Warriors. "We did some good things, but they just did a really good job and my hat's off to them. All I can do is compliment Granite City. It was a big win for them."

Edwardsville was able to get a late touchdown to cut the deficit to 42-21.

Bueltmann threw a 15-yard pass to Darius Crochrell in the end zone with 2:50 left in the game. Baker followed it up with an extra point.

It came after Sloan had tacked on his third TD run of the game a 29-yard power run with 9:09 left.

Bueltmann picked up his first start of the season for EHS on Friday while the Tigers' other quarterback Will Collins was on the sideline in street clothes. He was 7 of 22 in the game for 117 yards with a pair of TD passes and two interceptions, both in the second half.

James paced the running game for the orange and black with 16 carries for 99 yards and one score.

Altogether the Tigers had 240 yards of offense while GCHS compiled 388 yards. EHS had two turnovers while the Warriors had one, all in the second half.

EHS is back in action at 7 p.m. at home vs. Alton next week.

NOTES: Belleville East scored an overtime victory in East St. Louis on Friday, beating the Flyers 17-14. It marked East Side's first loss in the SWC since 2005 when the Tigers beat them 41-24. O'Fallon walked over Alton in Alton on Friday 50-6, all the scoring came in the first half. In the other SWC game on Friday Belleville West lost to Collinsville 17-11 at home.